Windows Vista forum: Free/Discounted Upgrades...

Now I've just got to decide whether or not to purchase a new pc at the end of Oct or whenever for the free upgrade to home premium or wait until the end of Jan when Vista is pre-installed.

The above pricing holds true for those under the System Builder License (small/independent builders), where upgrades are provided directly from Microsoft. However, individual manufacturers can manipulate that as they see fit, so:

System Builders:
* Windows XP Home: $49 upgrade to Windows Vista Home Basic.
* Windows XP Home: $79 upgrade to Windows Vista Home Premium.
* Windows XP Media Center: FREE upgrade to Windows Vista Home Premium.
* Windows XP Professional: FREE upgrade to Windows Vista Business.
* Windows XP Tablet PC: FREE upgrade to Windows Vista Business.

HP/Compaq:
* Windows XP Home: FREE upgrade to Windows Vista Home Basic.
* Windows XP Media Center: FREE upgrade to Windows Vista Home Premium.
* Windows XP Professional: FREE upgrade to Windows Vista Business.

Dell:
* Windows XP Home: $45 upgrade to Windows Vista Home Basic.
* Windows XP Media Center: FREE upgrade to Windows Vista Home Premium.
* Windows XP Professional: FREE upgrade to Windows Vista Business.

Note that in all cases the end user must pay for shipping and handling.

It is not immediately clear exactly what offers other manufacturers have planned.

John

I'm seeing shipping and handling $20 on New Egg.

nice, i origainally wanted to get a Evesham 720dc, but since similar spec(ed) andpriced apple core 2 laptop is out, i might well get the apple and use boot camp to run vista...still, i might wait for vista to come out, as soon as vista is out, existing cpu.gpu etc will be outdated, beside, all the 7 different verison of OSs are on one disc, and i don't see discount for untimate edition - them again i am expecting so much...

The forms you need to fill out for an upgrade to Windows Vista are included with qualifying new computers and OEM copies of Windows XP. When you redeem your Vista Coupon (between the date of general availability and March 31, 2007) you will be mailed a DVD containing an upgrade of Windows Vista along with your product key. You don't do this online or download the ISO, so I'm not really sure which site you are referring to. The official Windows Vista, though, can be found by clicking here.

John

As a Windows 2000 Professional user you are eligible for the discounted Upgrader's price on Windows Vista. However, if you wish to go from 2000 to Vista you would have to perform a clan installation, which means backing up all of your files, wiping the drive clean, and reinstalling everything.

The cheapest route you can go, which also happens to let you simply upgrade and not have to start with a clean slate, would be to purchase an OEM (NOT retail) copy of Windows XP Professional (32-bit edition) from newegg.com or other authorized resellers. That comes with a coupon for a free copy of Windows Vista...all you'd have to pay is S&H. (Look for confirmation that the copy is eligible for a Vista upgrade at the time of purchase.) Once you receive your copy of XP you could upgrade to it and then upgrade to Vista if/when you're ready starting January 30th. All together you're looking at around $150.

I have three notes, though:
1.) With OEM copies you are not permitted to transfer the license from one computer to another. The second the motherboard changes your XP and Vista licenses would be invalid.

2.) You would not be allowed to install the copy of Vista on any computer except that which you installed the OEM copy of XP.

3.) As a Windows 2000 Pro. user you cannot upgrade to XP Home or Media Center, so XP Pro. is your only option.

When it comes time to upgrade to Windows XP, click here for a guide.

Hope this helps,
John

If there is a computer still available with Windows XP installed that you have your eye on, be aware that the Vista Express Upgrade deal ends tomorrow!

John